I tried the oldest Linux distro still standing, and it was a total reality check
I tried the oldest Linux distro still standing, and it was a total reality check
Publish Date: 2026-02-03 11:00:00
Source Domain: www.howtogeek.com
There are tons of Linux distros. Most of them are new, some of them are old, some of them so old they don’t exist anymore. But there’s one distro that has stood the test of time, surprisingly. And that’s none other than Slackware.
But how come the ancestor to your own Linux distro is apparently still standing?
What is Slackware?
Let’s go ahead and rewind to 1993, the year Patrick Volkerding released the very first version of Slackware. While it is technically not the first Linux distribution ever created—that distinction belongs to the now-defunct Softlanding Linux System (SLS)—Slackware is unequivocally the oldest distribution that is still actively maintained and widely recognized today. Born originally as a cleanup project of SLS, Volkerding intended to fix bugs and update software packages for his own use and for his local professor. However, as SLS faded into obscurity due to maintenance issues, Slackware quickly rose to prominence, becoming the dominant distribution of the mid-1990s and serving as the foundation for other major projects, including the earliest versions of SUSE Linux.
The philosophy defining Slackware is often summarized by the acronym KISS, or “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” However, in the context of this distribution, simplicity does not imply ease of use for the novice. Instead, it refers to system architecture simplicity. The goal is to provide a system that is transparent, clean, and…
